traleigh

Long story short, I GOT SCREWED, I bought this truck and was told it had a good motor so I went ahead and fixed all of the other problems. Replaced all of the brakelines, wheel cyclinders, calipers, rotors, wheel hubs, and an exhaust manifold that was masking a noisey cyclinder.. Total invested including the price of the truck = $5000. Come to find out it has a blown head gasket and it must be really bad because the truck is running horrible.

I have been told the head gasket is really difficult to replace due to the location of the motor and the firewall.. Also told that if I swap the motor to be rebuilt the cab has to be removed. Is it true the cab has to be removed and the headgasket is that much of a PITA?

Should I just dump this truck?

ONELOWF

This is a doable job for the shade tree mechanic. What year truck?

No, the cab does not have to be removed.

If you don't want to pull the engine, you can replace the cylinder head/ gasket while it is in the truck.
The head bolts are TTY - torque to yield, which means that they can only be used once and then must be replaced.

The interference locations are at the back of the cylinder heads just under the firewall. So, the new rear bolts must be placed in the cyl head before the head is installed, two (?) or three per side IIRC. This can be done by putting the bolts in the head and holding them in place with large rubber bands so that the threaded end of the bolt is just above the surface of the new gasket when going on.

I would suggest pulling the front wheels off to lower the truck, and removing the plastic inner wheel wells for access.

traleigh

Thats really good news thanks ONELOWF.. Yeah its a 1999 F150 and the bolts in the head before install is exactly the information I was looking for.. Great advise, TY..

So if I decide to swap the motor I don't have to remove the cab? Any advise before I start? I'm gonna use a Bobcat instead of a cherry picker so that will resolve lowering the front end issue.. But will I be able to get to all of the bolts on the back of the motor, bellhousing? Thanks a million bro..

Also thinking about taking the motor to a shop and having it rebuilt (150k miles on it) any suggestions.. Heads a definate but should I have the bottom done and how far over should I go on the pistons>?

Thanks Again
Tim

ONELOWF

I meant to lower the truck to work on the engine not for clearance to remove the engine. No need to remove the cab.

Once things start coming out you can see more and it gets easier.

Unless you have some performance ambitions, you might contact a Ford dealer for a price on a factory re manufactured engine. That may be a good deal with their warranty.

traleigh

Excellent.. Thanks again for the advice..

Tim

JessCam4X4

Thanks for this . Now I know.

See? Digging on old threads though annoying pay dividends. I'm learning some useful infos here about them Head Gasket set.

bones2o21

LOL shadetree machinic here im doin a motor swap im my 97 f150 4x4 same reason blown head gasket. my advice is too swap the motor the amount of work too get the head off replace the head gasket and if ur doin one side u might as well do the other side too be safe would be close too pullin the motor and if the motor is out get a another used one that will drop in easy as pie and if ur realy got the extra money go ahead and replace all the little things like water pump and others that are difficult too get to while the motor is in the truck. also if ford placed the tranny bolts in the same spot in that year as my 97 u got 3 options too get the top two out

1. pull the intake off
2. get some long extensions and run along the top of the tranny
3. i wouldnt recomend but this is were u hear bout the cab coming off is pullin the cab too me kinda a waste of time but u do it how u think it would be best.

trust me if u have the tools u dont even realy need a shop although depending on were u live it would be nice this time of year its realy not that hard just time consuming.

so far i have 800 invested in a used motor less miles than my original plus parts and all the little stuff like water pump gaskets so on and so forth. i bought a motor out of a 97 crown vic and im got too swap everything except the the block and heads the direct drop in motor out of another truck is more expensive and probly has been worked unlike cars usaly are very well taken care of. so basicly i will have a all new motor for less than a 1000 dollars.

AFSOCSGT

I am glad to hear this also after hearing a Ford mechanic say that the cab has to come up also. Funk that.